Shubham Kumthekar

Biel GM Round 5: All Draws

The 5th round of the Biel Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2015 saw all the 3 games ending in draws, although none of them were too short. GM Eljanov failed to convert a sizeable advantage against GM Rapport while GM Adams was unsuccessful in making a good Queenless middlegame count against GM Wojtaszek. Meanwhile, GMs Vachier-Lagrave and Navara played out a 36-move draw.

After the first half of the tournament, Navara is in the lead with a tally of 3.5 points followed by Vachier-Lagrave and Wojtaszek on 3 and 2.5 points respectively.

Biel GM Round 4: Navara wins spectacularly, leads!

The 4th round of the Biel GM Tournament 2015 witnessed one of the most spectacular King manoeuvres as GM David Navara overcame GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek in an inspired fashion. In a Queenless middlegame, Navara, playing White, drove his King all the way up to h8 while resourcefully sidestepping any mating nets whatsoever. As such, Wojtaszek, who had already sacrificed a full Bishop to create a mating net, proved unsuccessful and soon resigned on move 48.

In other games, GM Pavel Eljanov defeated GM Michael Adams whilst GMs Rapport and Vachier-Lagrave split points amongst themselves.

After 4 Rounds, Navara leads the table with a tally of 3 points followed by Vachier-Lagrave on 2.5 points.

Leiden Chess Round 4: Howell in sole lead

A crucial victory in Round 4 over GM Nikolic allowed GM David Howell of England to take up the sole lead after Round 4 at the Leiden Chess tournament 2015. This win also helped the British GM to cross the 2700-mark for the first time ever in the live ratings.

Amongst Indians, IM Arghyadip Das succeeded in holding GM Tiviakov to a draw while IM Palit Somak went down to much lesser rated Van Halderen.

Round 4 Results: Click Here

Lake Sevan 2015 Final: Duda the Champion!

A draw in the final round of the Lake Sevan Tournament 2015 proved just enough for GM Duda Jan Kryzystof to clinch the title ahead of GM Anton Guijarro David. Going into the final game, GMs Duda and Anton led the table with 5.5 points each. However, an excellent display of dynamic chess by GM Vidit Gujrathi saw Anton go down in his crucial final round encounter against Vidit. This made it easy for Duda to clinch a clear first in this 9-round event with a final tally of 6 points.

The third spot, however, was shared by 3 GMs – Vidit Gujrathi, Ter-Sahakyan and Artemiev. The trio finished with a total of 5 points each.

Round 9 Results:

Rtg	Name	Result	Name	Rtg
2632	Duda Jan Krzysztof	1/2-1/2	Petrosyan Tigran L.	2630
2578	Sevian	1/2-1/2	Gabuzyan	2589
2611	Hovhannisyan	1/2-1/2	Artemiev	2660
2593	Ter-Sahakyan	1-0	Salem A.R. Saleh	2615
2643	Vidit Gujrathi	1-0	Anton Guijarro David	2626

Final Standings:

Rank	Player	Points
1	Duda Jan Kryzystof	6
2	Anton David Guijarro	5.5
3-5	Vidit Gujrathi	5
3-5	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	5
3-5	Artemiev Vladislav	5
6-7	Hovhannisyan Robert	4.5
6-7	Hovhannes Gabuzyan	4.5
8	Petrosian Tigran L.	4
9	Samuel Sevian	3
10	Salem A. R. Saleh	2.5

Lake Sevan Round 6: Duda or Anton!?

The eighth round of the Lake Sevan Tournament 2015 witnessed 3 decisive results. After making a good comeback in the seventh round, India’s sole representative GM Vidit Gujrathi failed to keep up with the momentum as he went down against GM Tigran L. Petrosyan. In other decisive games, GMs Artemiev and Hovhannisyan overcame GMs Sevian and Salem A. R. Saleh respectively.

Meanwhile, the leaders from Round 7 – GMs Duda Jan Kryzystof and Anton David Guijarro – drew their respective games against GMs Gabuzyan and Ter-Sahakyan respectively. Going into the final round, Duda and Anton lead the pack with 5.5 points each, followed by GM Artemiev on 4.5.

Round 8 Results:

Rtg	Name	Result	Name	Rtg
2630	Petrosyan Tigran L.	1 – 0	Vidit Gujrathi	2643
2626	Anton Guijarro David	½ – ½	Ter-Sahakyan	2593
2615	Salem A.R. Saleh	0 – 1	Hovhannisyan	2611
2660	Artemiev	1 – 0	Sevian	2578
2589	Gabuzyan	½ – ½	Duda Jan Krzysztof	2632

Standings after Round 8:

Rank	Player	Points
1-2	Anton Guijarro David	5.5
1-2	Duda Jan Kryzystof	5.5
3	Artemiev Vladislav	4.5
4-7	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	4
4-7	Gabuzyan Hovhannes	4
4-7	Vidit Gujrathi	4
4-7	Robert Hovhannisyan	4
8	Petrosyan Tigran L.	3.5
9-10	Salem A. R. Saleh	2.5
9-10	Samuel Sevian	2.5

Lake Sevan Round 7: Four Decisive Results!

The seventh round of the Lake Sevan Tournament 2015 proved to be quite an exciting one with as many as 4 games ending decisively. The wins were generally hard fought, with all the decisive games crossing the 50-move mark. The only ‘peaceful’ game today was a 26-move draw between Duda and Artemiev.

The biggest result of the day, as regards the top standings, was GM Anton David Guijarro’s victory over GM Hovhannisyan. This win has helped the young Spanish Grandmaster join GM Duda Jan Kryzystof at the top of the table with 5/7. Meanwhile, GM Vidit Gujrathi came back strongly from a disastrous 6th round to notch up a win over GM Ter-Sahakyan. The sole Indian hope is now placed second with a tally of 4 points.

Round 7 Results:

Rtg	Name	Result	Name	Rtg
2589	Gabuzyan	1 – 0	Petrosyan Tigran L.	2630
2632	Duda Jan Krzysztof	½ – ½	Artemiev	2660
2578	Sevian	0 – 1	Salem A.R. Saleh	2615
2611	Hovhannisyan	0 – 1	Anton Guijarro David	2626
2593	Ter-Sahakyan	0 – 1	Vidit Gujrathi	2643

Lake Sevan Round 6 : Tragicomedy!

The sixth round of the Lake Sevan Tournament 2015 witnessed one of the rarest of occurrences as GM Vidit Gujrathi, rated 2643, dramatically allowed a mate in 1 against GM Hovhannisyan. After playing the opening quite strongly, Vidit was already ruling the roost by move 20. However, that was when the disaster struck. Vidit, after thinking for 5 minutes, moved his Rook to h3 from h1 and in the process, completely overlooked a mate-in-1 with Qf1. Hovhannisyan promptly played the mating move, thus clinching the game.

The other decisive game of the day saw GM Duda Jan Kryzystof overcome GM Salem A. R. Saleh with the black pieces. With this win, Duda has taken up the sole lead after Round 6. The young Polish GM is being closely followed by GMs Anton David Guijarro and Ter-Sahakyan on the 2nd and 3rd spots respectively.

Lake Sevan Round 4: Duda beats Vidit

In an interesting turn of events at the Lake Sevan Tournament 2015, GM Duda Jan Krzysztof overcame overnight joint-leader GM Vidit Gujrathi to join GM Anton Guijarro David at the top of the table after Round 4.

The Vidit – Duda game, which took off with the Semi-Slav defence, looked pleasant for Vidit in the early middlegame. However, Duda’s excellent move 25…g5 pretty much equalized the situation. With the trend against him, Vidit kept making small errors which eventually gave Duda a pleasant endgame. However, both the players struggled to find the best moves in the endgame, and on move 56, the Indian youngster had a chance to pull things back. Vidit not only missed the opportunity but also committed a flurry of mistakes which allowed Duda to decide the matters on move 64.

Amongst other results, GM Hovhannisyan toppled GM Petrosyan Tigran L while GM Artemiev, the top-seed, overcame GM Salem A. R. Saleh. Interestingly, all the wins in Round 4 were scored by players playing with the black pieces.

Round 4 Results:

Rtg	Name	Result	Name	Rtg
2630	Petrosyan Tigran L.	0 – 1	Hovhannisyan	2611
2593	Ter-Sahakyan	½ – ½	Sevian	2578
2643	Vidit Gujrathi	0 – 1	Duda	2632
2626	Anton Guijarro David	½ – ½	Gabuzyan	2589
2615	Salem	0 – 1	Artemiev	2660

Lake Sevan Round 3: Vidit, Anton in lead!

The third round of the Lake Sevan Chess Tournament 2015 kept up the intensity set by previous rounds as 4 games out of the total 5 finished decisively. The only draw of this round was a 127-move long game between GM Artemiev and GM Anton Guijarro David.

After 3 rounds, GMs Anton Guijarro David and Vidit Gujrathi lead the rest with 2.5 points each. The latter, India’s lone hope in the tournament, overcame GM Gabuzyan with the black pieces en route to his second victory on the trot.

Round 3 Results:

Rtg	Name	Result	Name	Rtg
2615	Salem A.R. Saleh	1 – 0	Petrosyan Tigran L.	2630
2660	Artemiev	½ – ½	Anton Guijarro David	2626
2589	Gabuzyan	0 – 1	Vidit	2643
2632	Duda	0 – 1	Ter-Sahakyan	2593
2578	Sevian	1 – 0	Hovhannisyan	2611

Lake Sevan Round 2: All games decisive!

The second round of the Lake Sevan Chess Tournament 2015 turned out to be a perfect advertisement for the game of Chess with all the 5 games in the tournament finishing decisively. In a round marked by youthful exuberance, four victories were scored by players with the White pieces while Duda’s win over Hovhannisyan was the only black victory of the day.

The lone Indian player in the fray – GM Vidit Gujrathi – recorded his first win of the tournament as he ran through the defences of top-seed GM Vladislav Artemiev. In a complicated middlegame, typical of the Grunfeld Defence, Artemiev went astray around the 40-move mark. This allowed Vidit, the defending champion, to decide the matters with a nice attack followed by a pretty Queen Sacrifice. With mate being inevitable, Artemiev resigned on move 45.

After 2 rounds, GMs Anton Guijarro David and Duda Jan Kryzystof lead the table with 2 points each. The duo is being closely trailed by GM Vidit on 1.5/2.

Round 2 Results:

Rtg	Name	Result	Name	Rtg
2630	Petrosyan Tigran L.	1 – 0	Sevian	2578
2611	Hovhannisyan	0 – 1	Duda Jan Krzysztof	2632
2593	Ter-Sahakyan	1 – 0	Gabuzyan	2589
2643	Vidit Gujrathi	1 – 0	Artemiev	2660
2626	Anton Guijarro David	1 – 0	Salem A.R. Saleh	2615